Sidelined by rivals, Germany's far-right AfD bides time
ABC News
Immigration is a side issue in this year’s German election campaign, but that hasn’t stopped the country’s biggest far-right party from trying to play it up
BERLIN -- Immigration is a side issue in this year's German election campaign, but that hasn't stopped the country's biggest far-right party from trying to play it up.
“Cologne, Kassel or Konstanz can't cope with more Kabul,” Alternative for Germany declared on one of its posters ahead of the Sept. 26 election — a reference to the government's decision to take in several thousand Afghans who had worked for the German military or aid groups before the Taliban takeover.
Another poster, showing a retired couple embracing on a pier, reads: “We'll share our pensions, but not with the whole world. Solidarity has its limits.”
The party shook Germany's political establishment four years ago, when it came in third in parliamentary elections after stoking anti-immigrant sentiment over Chancellor Angela Merkel's 2015 decision to allow hundreds of thousands of people fleeing war and poverty into the country.